so here were are... the start of year 5.
who'd have thunk we'd get this far?!? it's exhilarating, frightening, amazing & a little bittersweet all at once.
4 years of our lives we've poured into this place... it's costs us a lot in material things and emotional energy... we lost our house, we've had some REALLY big fights, we've cried a lot, and suffered from many symptoms of stress... but when it comes right down to it... we've loved almost every minute.
Well, i should qualify that... I have loved a lot of it. Ian has loved a little less of it... the house part in articular. But we can't blame the bistro for that, really... that was poor financial decison-making combined with pride, ego & fear... however, if we didn't have the bistro, we wouldn't have had to make that decision.
All those things said, here we are at the start of year 5... by some measures, that is the defining year for a small business... if we can make it thru this one, we might be home free!
So, we're counting on our fabulous friends & customers to help us get there.
We need your input, your ideas, your bums in our seats... your friends bums in our seats... we need and want your feedback - good or bad - to help us improve and continue to provide you with what we believe to be excellent food, great service and a comfortable, relaxed and fun atmosphere where everyone feels welcome and connected.
There will be more changes coming - this is a never ending work-in-progress...
The lunch menu will shortly get an overhaul - it hasn't changed in over 2 years... either in content or in prices, so it's due...
The dinner menu will continue to be refined while we test out new things...
The bar menu will continue to evolve while we figure out what you like to drink...
Sadly, our staff will be making some changes as our younger ones move on to new adventures - we love our staff, have we mentioned that enough times?? they are awesome and absolutely make wild what it is... but we'd never keep them from their dreams and goals, so we must let them fly as they wish, however, we will find new faces to fill their spaces and hope that you'll welcome them with open arms.
We need some help... we're seeking a financial partner of sorts. No hard cash investment, just a signature on a line... if that's something you think you could entertain, come talk to us and we'll give you the lowdown.
Bonar continues to find and book AMAZING music for our stage. There are SO MANY great acts coming up (check out the calendar www.wildbistro.com/liveatwild for current listings), and we couldn't possibly do it without him. If you're an amazing act and would like to play here, contact Bonar today! (bonar@wildbistro.com)
We're still thinking about summer hours... not sure WHAT the best thing to do is... got an opinion on that?
We celebrated our 4th birthday in big style with a fantastic party at the Gibsons Legion Hall... amazing music - Deanna Cartea, Carnival Era & The Colorifics - a great time was had by all, and now that we've all recovered, it's time to get busy making year number 5 the best yet.
See you soon!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
what's the buzz...
you know that old saying, that it took 24 years to become an overnight sensation??
that's kind of how we're feeling.
almost 4 years now - and it still amazes me when someone comes in and says "i never knew you were here!" I also know we're not the only business on the coast that goes through this phenomena...
the coast is NOT that big...
how is it that we don't all know about what's going on here?
i'm curious to know how YOU find out what's going on or where to go for things you need... do you read the Coast Reporter, the Local, Sunstream, Just Business, Coast Life? do you check the ads in Good Morning Sunshine? Do you listen to CKAY or CVUE? do you rely on Duane Burnett's blog? do you check the Coast Reporter's new site that sometimes has breaking news? do you use the Coast Cultural Alliance's calendar? what about SuncoastCentral.com or BigPacific.com??
do you seek out posters, and check the stacks of handbills at various checkouts all over town? do you ask friends? study facebook & twitter? focus only on the people you know and do what they do??
it's a conundrum for us, as business owners. HOW do we get our word out without wasting money... is WHAT we say as important as WHERE we say it? do you respond more to pictures than words? how much information do you NEED to make a buying decision? What DON'T you want to know? What will make you try something new - do you wait for everyone else to try it first? do you decide by price? location? logo colours? philosophy? proximity to other things you need?
your insights & opinion... and suggestions... are very welcome and encouraged... we need to know!
that's kind of how we're feeling.
almost 4 years now - and it still amazes me when someone comes in and says "i never knew you were here!" I also know we're not the only business on the coast that goes through this phenomena...
the coast is NOT that big...
how is it that we don't all know about what's going on here?
i'm curious to know how YOU find out what's going on or where to go for things you need... do you read the Coast Reporter, the Local, Sunstream, Just Business, Coast Life? do you check the ads in Good Morning Sunshine? Do you listen to CKAY or CVUE? do you rely on Duane Burnett's blog? do you check the Coast Reporter's new site that sometimes has breaking news? do you use the Coast Cultural Alliance's calendar? what about SuncoastCentral.com or BigPacific.com??
do you seek out posters, and check the stacks of handbills at various checkouts all over town? do you ask friends? study facebook & twitter? focus only on the people you know and do what they do??
it's a conundrum for us, as business owners. HOW do we get our word out without wasting money... is WHAT we say as important as WHERE we say it? do you respond more to pictures than words? how much information do you NEED to make a buying decision? What DON'T you want to know? What will make you try something new - do you wait for everyone else to try it first? do you decide by price? location? logo colours? philosophy? proximity to other things you need?
your insights & opinion... and suggestions... are very welcome and encouraged... we need to know!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
WHAT are we doing WRONG?!?!?
ok...
seriously...
WHAT are we doing wrong when we get a comment like this via our website survey...
"REALLY would like to hear local, live entertainment. Along with the food, that does more to bring the ambiance to a totally different level than anything else. We have amazing jazz artists in the area for example, who would be perfect. Tasty local food, tasty local musicians--recipe for success. "
Tell me, please...
We feature LOCAL, LIVE ENTERTAINMENT usually at LEAST 3 nights A WEEK....
I'm gonna guess this person has never been to our place, or they would know that...
right?
Are we completely missing the mark with our advertising - ALL of which says "Live Music" in it somewhere... ???
Are we talking to the wrong people???
Is it just that we're not solely a jazz house and this person doesn't care about any other kind of music?? We were a jazz fest venue!!!
My forehead is bleeding from the brick wall I've been banging it against...
Someone, PLEASE... tell me what we're doing wrong, or not doing enough.... cuz i'm out of ideas.
seriously...
WHAT are we doing wrong when we get a comment like this via our website survey...
"REALLY would like to hear local, live entertainment. Along with the food, that does more to bring the ambiance to a totally different level than anything else. We have amazing jazz artists in the area for example, who would be perfect. Tasty local food, tasty local musicians--recipe for success. "
Tell me, please...
We feature LOCAL, LIVE ENTERTAINMENT usually at LEAST 3 nights A WEEK....
I'm gonna guess this person has never been to our place, or they would know that...
right?
Are we completely missing the mark with our advertising - ALL of which says "Live Music" in it somewhere... ???
Are we talking to the wrong people???
Is it just that we're not solely a jazz house and this person doesn't care about any other kind of music?? We were a jazz fest venue!!!
My forehead is bleeding from the brick wall I've been banging it against...
Someone, PLEASE... tell me what we're doing wrong, or not doing enough.... cuz i'm out of ideas.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
new fall directions...
wow... i guess august was busy, eh? no blog posts all month! crazy...
anyway... looks like there are outside factors at work that are helping us make some of the harder decisions about what we're gonna do around here.
the hardest decision of them all is/was... do we stop or continue to provide retail "grab-n-go" sweets like a proper bakery??
Here's the truth of the matter... we never intended to continue being a "proper bakery" when we bought the "proper bakery" three and a half years ago... we saw this great place, and instantly had a vision of what we could turn it into.
So now... three years later... we're realizing that vision but have also maintained almost all the retail baking that we started with, as well as grown the wedding cake/occasion cake side of the business by accident.
So what's the problem? Well... #1. Time. Operating a "real" restaurant does not leave a lot of time to also operate a "real" bakery... at least not with the same amount of staff. #2. Space. The storage space required for the ingredients & packaging for both bakery & restaurant exceeds what we can comfortably manage. #3. Refrigeration. We cannot install a walk-in cooler nor freezer due to the configuration of our space and the fact that to VENT these things we'd have to go through the apartment upstairs or through the concrete exterior wall, which happens to be underground... both scenarios costing WAY more than we can afford. That means, we have to rely on stand-alone units... three of which we lost over the course of this very hot summer. Most recently the only freezer we had that would accommodate full trays of sweets (the size they are when they're made before they get cut down to service size).
This most recent "death" has led to the current crux... we've got nowhere to STORE the sweets between when they're made and when they're put out for sale... and because of time issues, making small batches isn't really efficient because, for one, i'd have to make nanaimo bars every other day to keep up!!
So that then leads to...
a) do we stop making nanaimo bars (and all the others) altogether??? i think we might get lynched if we did that.
b) do we reduce the number of available sweets and rotate the selection? that might be the most logical and least unpopular option.
c) do we find a new baker who has their own commercial kitchen and contract out our recipes & the storage?? that might work but would most definitely put the prices up.
d) do we change our selection entirely to items that are simpler to make in small batches and still cost effective? this might work...
We don't want to price ourselves out of the market - we are by no means "pastry chefs" so creating desserts that end up costing too much per serving because we're only making a dozen at a time because they take so long doesn't make any sense...
We don't want to lose our customers who only come here for the desserts, tho because of our dwindling and inconsistent supply over the summer, maybe that's already happened...
We don't (at least right now) want to start a whole new line of products that we find we can't keep up with and end up going thru this process again...
so what DO we want?
We want our customers to be happy. We want them to know they can count on us to have their favourites pretty much any time they come in. We want them to come back regularly. We want them to tell their friends. We want to focus on lunch & dinner, and special desserts for in-house service.
Any suggestions on how we do ALL that?
thoughts are welcome & encouraged.
anyway... looks like there are outside factors at work that are helping us make some of the harder decisions about what we're gonna do around here.
the hardest decision of them all is/was... do we stop or continue to provide retail "grab-n-go" sweets like a proper bakery??
Here's the truth of the matter... we never intended to continue being a "proper bakery" when we bought the "proper bakery" three and a half years ago... we saw this great place, and instantly had a vision of what we could turn it into.
So now... three years later... we're realizing that vision but have also maintained almost all the retail baking that we started with, as well as grown the wedding cake/occasion cake side of the business by accident.
So what's the problem? Well... #1. Time. Operating a "real" restaurant does not leave a lot of time to also operate a "real" bakery... at least not with the same amount of staff. #2. Space. The storage space required for the ingredients & packaging for both bakery & restaurant exceeds what we can comfortably manage. #3. Refrigeration. We cannot install a walk-in cooler nor freezer due to the configuration of our space and the fact that to VENT these things we'd have to go through the apartment upstairs or through the concrete exterior wall, which happens to be underground... both scenarios costing WAY more than we can afford. That means, we have to rely on stand-alone units... three of which we lost over the course of this very hot summer. Most recently the only freezer we had that would accommodate full trays of sweets (the size they are when they're made before they get cut down to service size).
This most recent "death" has led to the current crux... we've got nowhere to STORE the sweets between when they're made and when they're put out for sale... and because of time issues, making small batches isn't really efficient because, for one, i'd have to make nanaimo bars every other day to keep up!!
So that then leads to...
a) do we stop making nanaimo bars (and all the others) altogether??? i think we might get lynched if we did that.
b) do we reduce the number of available sweets and rotate the selection? that might be the most logical and least unpopular option.
c) do we find a new baker who has their own commercial kitchen and contract out our recipes & the storage?? that might work but would most definitely put the prices up.
d) do we change our selection entirely to items that are simpler to make in small batches and still cost effective? this might work...
We don't want to price ourselves out of the market - we are by no means "pastry chefs" so creating desserts that end up costing too much per serving because we're only making a dozen at a time because they take so long doesn't make any sense...
We don't want to lose our customers who only come here for the desserts, tho because of our dwindling and inconsistent supply over the summer, maybe that's already happened...
We don't (at least right now) want to start a whole new line of products that we find we can't keep up with and end up going thru this process again...
so what DO we want?
We want our customers to be happy. We want them to know they can count on us to have their favourites pretty much any time they come in. We want them to come back regularly. We want them to tell their friends. We want to focus on lunch & dinner, and special desserts for in-house service.
Any suggestions on how we do ALL that?
thoughts are welcome & encouraged.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
vol-au-VENT
ok, so ya, i vented a little bit in that last post... hopefully i'm allowed and hopefully i didn't upset too many people.
i'll try to keep things more positive and upbeat... but fact is, sometimes this job is bloody hard and there are days when the thought crosses our minds to just stop... go get real jobs and have a paycheque again... and benefits (hm... i've never had a job with benefits... dunno if i could cope!)
thankfully, those moments are usually short-lived, and tempered with the knowledge that we actually do love what we're doing...
that whole line about doing what you love and the money will follow... i guess they never promised how close behind the money would follow... :D
but we're not really here for the money... i mean, it'd be nice if we didn't have to WORRY about how things were gonna get paid, but we're keeping our heads above water and it gets better every day... generally.
anyway - i just wanted to apologize for venting a little ... and reiterate how much we truly love and appreciate our customers - particularly the ones we see all the time who support us so amazingly, and help us out with honest feedback and helpful ideas... and the NEW ones who are just discovering us! Thanks for taking the trip off the beaten path and coming in our door!
Happy Sea-Cav!
i'll try to keep things more positive and upbeat... but fact is, sometimes this job is bloody hard and there are days when the thought crosses our minds to just stop... go get real jobs and have a paycheque again... and benefits (hm... i've never had a job with benefits... dunno if i could cope!)
thankfully, those moments are usually short-lived, and tempered with the knowledge that we actually do love what we're doing...
that whole line about doing what you love and the money will follow... i guess they never promised how close behind the money would follow... :D
but we're not really here for the money... i mean, it'd be nice if we didn't have to WORRY about how things were gonna get paid, but we're keeping our heads above water and it gets better every day... generally.
anyway - i just wanted to apologize for venting a little ... and reiterate how much we truly love and appreciate our customers - particularly the ones we see all the time who support us so amazingly, and help us out with honest feedback and helpful ideas... and the NEW ones who are just discovering us! Thanks for taking the trip off the beaten path and coming in our door!
Happy Sea-Cav!
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